Multiplex switching scheme for communications network

Abstract

An earth station interface architecture provides full mesh connectivity for a relatively small number of network stations. A component of the architecture is a switch, which employs' a network interface standard to ‘define the multiplexing of multiple virtual ports across single physical communications port. Through address and control fields of its connectivity control software, the switch can be dynamically configured to provide multilayer addressing, and device selectivity, thereby enabling point-to-point connectivity of multiple terminal devices, such as a plurality of audio circuits, to be effected via a single port. Dial codes on the station side of an audio signal multiplexer link are translated into frame relay addresses (data link connection identifiers) that are added to each frame of data for routing through the network. With this additional layer of routing information, audio (voice) connectivity is now available between any two audio circuits (e.g. trunks) in the network.

1. An earth station for use in a system having communication stations interconnected via a satellite, the earth station comprising:
 a satellite antenna; 
 a transceiver coupled to the satellite antenna configured to send signals to and receive signals from the satellite antenna; and 
 a frame relay switch configured to connect a plurality of terminal devices, input data from the plurality of terminal devices, format the data into data packets having control bytes for elementary error detection, and route packets. 
 
     
     
       2. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to provide point to point connectivity between the plurality of terminal devices. 
     
     
       3. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to process video. 
     
     
       4. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch configured to process data. 
     
     
       5. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to process video teleconferencing data. 
     
     
       6. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is dynamically configured to provide multilayer addressing and filtering. 
     
     
       7. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is dynamically configured using connectivity control software to provide multilayer addressing and filtering. 
     
     
       8. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to transmit a packet via the transceiver using a time division multiple access protocol. 
     
     
       9. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to transmit a packet via the transceiver for broadcast to at least two other earth stations via a single hop mesh satellite network. 
     
     
       10. The earth station of  claim 1 , wherein the frame relay switch is configured to packetize data based on a frame relay standard. 
     
     
       11. A method comprising,
 receiving, at a switching device, satellite signal data via a transceiver coupled to a satellite antenna; 
 receiving, at said switching device, input data from a plurality of terminal devices connected to said switching device; 
 formatting said input data into data packets having control bytes for elementary error detection; and 
 transmitting said data packets via the transceiver to at least one earth station. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein transmitting said data packets comprises transmitting said data packets via the transceiver for broadcast to at least two earth stations via a single hop mesh satellite network. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein transmitting said data packets comprises transmitting said data packets via the transceiver using a time division multiple access protocol. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising packetizing said data packets based on a frame relay standard.